Establishing the Identity of the Poet

and June Jordan's Directed by Desire


The volumes of poetry in June Jordan’s Directed by Desire demonstrate the method in which the poet is able to sensibly combine multiple issues into a single poem. I think all poets generally have a few topics that they continually revisit; usually they are topics with which the poet feels some personal connection. Unfortunately, despite how meaningful to the poet, the reoccurring themes can sometimes feel monotonous to the reader, or even worse, they can appear to imply an imposing agenda.
I can identify my own patterns and issues in my writing that are directly tied to who I am as an individual, and I am ever-conscious of how these patterns and reoccurring issues are interpreted by the reader. I think that considering how the reader perceives the poet is a relevant concern because the focus should be on the poems and the speaker in those poems rather than on the poet herself. I want to be in control of the identity of the poet, but I feel that that identity should be offered in bits and pieces over several works, whether those be collections of poetry or otherwise. The identity of any author should be a gift offered to the reader who studies multiple works by that author and takes the time to contemplate that individual’s published offerings. In order to offer that gift, the writer must be compelling enough to encourage the identity-seeking reader.
June Jordan’s wide gamut of poetry succeeds in inviting her readers to know her without giving them the chance to judge her incorrectly by the juxtaposition of content in her poems. Jordan’s reoccurring themes are generally: world politics, activism, women, femininity vs. masculinity, people of color, food, sex, etc. Many of her poems contain two or more of these themes at once, such as in “The Talking Back of Miss Valentine Jones” from Against the Stillwaters:

The victory
the liberation
of the Indo-Chinese peoples
apparently
belongs to pint-size
short
slight
runt-hard armies
not excluding ten-year-olds
boyandgirl
guerrilla fireflies
a multi-thousandfold
an army
marching on and on
in 69¢
single-thong slippers
thin
loose pyjamas
a military presence
fortified
by a handful of rice
wild fruit
and the indomitable
sexy
instinct sexy sting
of freedom (9-34)

and “Meta-Rhetoric” from the specific volume, Directed by Desire:

Homophobia
racism
self-definition
revolutionary struggle

the subject tonight for
public discussion is
our love

we sit apart
apparently at opposite ends of a line
and I feel the distance
between my eyes
between my legs
a dry
dust topography of our separation (1-14)

The combination of themes in these excerpts is organic. The reader isn’t a victim of propaganda or ego and predictability is out-of-the-question. In “…Miss Valentine Jones,” Jordan combines ironic political commentary with sensual imagery and even nods to her reoccurring male/female dichotomy all in a short list; she suggestively combines her role as an activist with love and sex in “Meta-Rhetoric.”
Perhaps Jordan didn't consider her reader while writing as much as I do, but it seems best for now to consider everything in my pursuit to write the most dynamic, reader-accessible poems as I can.